


Love and War

by 852_Prospect_Archivist



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: AU, Alternate Universes, M/M, Series: Sentinel in Love series #4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 02:51:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/793217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/852_Prospect_Archivist/pseuds/852_Prospect_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carolyn gets a surprise.<br/>This story is a sequel to Losing Friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love and War

### LOVE & WAR

by ET

Disclaimers:  Sentinel and Guide are not mine.  The whole concept belongs to Pet Fly Productions and Paramount.  No copyright infringement is intended, even though, technically, it is.  This is just for fun.  Certainly not for profit.

Warnings: No sex, no violence, no bad words.  I hope this works.  It seems that a lot of people didn't really like Carolyn.  Frankly, I don't have an opinion since I missed the first season and so don't know her.

Summary: Carolyn gets a surprise.

Notes:  This is an A/U series.  As such... Morgan is my own character and I have a history for him that I've touched on in this series.  Maybe someday I'll actually get to write it.  Please don't use him without my permission. You'll regret it.  He has a tendency to take over your mind.  But what else can you expect from a telepath?

* * *

Her girlfriend's wedding had taken place not far from Cascade and she'd been in the wedding party.  Back at her hotel, she'd heard about Jim Ellison getting shot from another friend who still worked for the Cascade PD.  That was when Carolyn Plummer decided to drop in to check on Jim and return the keys at the same time.

Carolyn had never told her ex-husband that she had another set of keys to the loft.  Truth was, she'd forgotten about them until running across them when she'd been unpacking after her move to San Francisco a year ago.  She never intended to use them, but just hadn't been able to resist.

She'd made better time than she'd realized, getting to 852 Prospect around 10 in the morning.  Thinking that Sandburg surely must be at the university, she'd decided to just let herself in.  Placing the keys on the counter was a habit left over from when she lived there with Jim.  The living room was empty.

"Jim must still be asleep," she thought.  "I'll just sneak upstairs and check on him."

She stopped at the head of the stairs, suddenly realizing that Jim was not alone.  A slender, blonde was lying next to him, his back to her, one arm draped over Jim's bare chest, face buried in the crock of Jim's shoulder. In the light seeping in through the window, Carolyn realized there was something wrong with the picture before her.

She caught her breath as realization hit.  Jim was in bed with a man.  A young man.  From what she could see, both men were nude under the sheet that draped them.  Suddenly the man moved, rolling over in the big bed to face her.  His eyes were a startling gold as he lay there, propped on his elbows, calmly watching her.  She blushed under that golden gaze.

"Jim," he said, softly, as he reached behind himself to nudge his companion.

"Wha?" Jim muttered.  His eyes snapped open as he shot up in bed.  "Carolyn? How...?"

"Oh, God," she moaned, his voice breaking her frozen concentration.  She turned and dashed back downstairs.

Barefoot and shirtless, Jim caught up to Carolyn in the hallway just before she left the building.  Grabbing her arm, he pulled her to a stop.

"Let go of me," she hissed, angrily trying to free her arm.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, releasing her.  "How did you get into the loft? The door was locked."

Ignoring his questions, she asked some of her own.  "Was that why you froze me out, Jim? Because you were gay?"

"You left me.  You were the one who filed for divorce.  Not me."

"You shut me out long before that," she spat out.

"Because you were _so_ understanding," Jim shot back, heatedly.

"Who is he?" she asked, not wanting to go there.

"His name is Morgan Chandler, not that it's any of your business," Jim told her. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

She told him about her friends wedding in as few words as possible.  "Are you out of your mind, Jim.  What is this? Some kind of mid-life fling? You want to risk your job? Your life? God knows where that man's been..."

"Actually, I've not been, as you put it, anywhere for a number of years. Not that it's any of your business."  Carolyn flinched as that cool voice with it's faint British accent washed over her, repeating Jim's phrase. Turning she saw the man who was sharing her ex-husband's bed standing at the foot of the stairs dressed in jeans and a tee shirt that must've been Jim's because it was too loose to have been his own.   "I hardly think this is the place to be having such a discussion.  Why don't we take it upstairs?" he suggested, with a courtly gesture.

With a cold glance at him, Carolyn stalked back to the loft.  Once inside she stood in the middle of the room, tapping her foot angrily, as she waited for them to get back inside.  The click of a door behind her announced someone else's arrival.  Turning she saw Sandburg exit his room, still buttoning his shirt.

"Oh! Um, hi," he said to her, somewhat sheepishly.  A flicker of relief crossed his face as Jim and Chandler reentered the loft.

Barely waiting until the door was shut, she began her attack.  Not on Jim, as he had no doubt assumed she would, but on Morgan Chandler.  "I don't know just who you think you are, Mr. Chandler, and I don't know how you managed to wrap a man like Jim around your finger enough to make him take you to his bed..."

"Carolyn..." Jim broke into her tirade with a warning tone.

"No, Jim.  As your ex-wife, I suppose she deserves some courtesy from us, sadly lacking as she is in granting us the same right."

Chandler's amused, slightly accented, tone made Carolyn flush.  Which only served to fuel her anger.  "You may think this is funny, you slut, but I don't."

" _CAROLYN_!" Jim bellowed, angrily.  His expression was murderous.

Carolyn was further astonished when he subsided at a sharp look from Chandler.  She'd never seen her macho, ex-Ranger, ex-husband respond to anyone that fast when he was angry.  Not even his formidable captain, Simon Banks.  Then the golden man's attention was back on her and she felt herself freeze in his gaze like a proverbial deer in the headlights.  "I have no intention of hurting him, Ms. Plummer. _I_ certainly won't walk out on him."

Carolyn's hand moved with the swiftness of a pouncing cat, aiming an open handed strike at his face.  He caught her wrist before she could connect, so she tried again with her other hand.  He caught that wrist as well.  They stood eye to eye before Carolyn's nerve broke.  As she took a step backward, Chandler released her.

Hugging herself tightly, she crossed the room to stand beside the couch, effectively putting Sandburg between herself, her exhusband and his lover. Especially Morgan Chandler.  Something about that strange golden man terrified her.

"Are you quite finished?" Chandler asked, icily calm.

Turning to face him, she merely nodded, not trusting her voice to speak.

"Good.  Because there's a few things I wish to say to you.  There is only one person on this planet who cares for Jim Ellison as much as I do, although it's not in the same way.  That person is Blair Sandburg."

Hands jammed into his pockets, Sandburg had been studiously examining the carpet as the argument raged.  Carolyn saw his head jerk up at Chandler's words.

"You gave up whatever right you had to Jim's heart when you chose to walk out rather than fight for him."  Chandler's pronunciation was icily precise as only the British upperclass can do with any effectiveness.  "Jim and I do not owe anyone an explanation about anything.  Not you; not the Cascade PD; not the citizens of Washington state. _Not_ _anyone._   I love this man with a passion that sometimes frightens me.  I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to him."  He took a deep breath to calm himself and continued. "You have no right to come in here and belittle him by saying he has let a pretty face sway him into doing something he shouldn't.  Jim is a strong willed man.  But if you don't know that, then you never really knew James Ellison."

"I love you, too, Sunshine," Jim said, in the silence that followed that proclamation.  He placed his hands on Chandler's shoulder, squeezing lightly.

She watched as Chandler moved into his embrace.  Carolyn had the impression of a lion; controlled passion and fluid strength.  A perfect match for Jim Ellison's fire.  She shook her head to dispel the thought.  She didn't want to like this man, no matter how good looking he was.  Not only because he was Jim's lover but because he frightened her so.  There was something deadly about him.

"Carolyn, whatever we had is gone," Jim said, softly, catching her attention.  "We've each got our own lives to live.  If this costs me my job, then that's too bad.  I'm _happy_ , Carolyn."

"Do you really love him, Jim?" she asked, in a small voice.

"Yes."

That simple answer spoke volumes.

"I'm sorry," she said, realizing that it wasn't enough.  But it was all she could say.

"I accept your apology, Carolyn," Jim said, releasing Chandler.  "We both do."

"Carolyn, I don't want to be your enemy.  You are still part of Jim's life..."

"Not anymore.  Not for a long time, actually," Carolyn surprised herself by answering.  "We were never meant to be together.  I guess, it's time I accepted that.  Oh, it's not your fault, Jim," she added as Jim opened his mouth to protest.  "At least not all of it.  It's partly my fault, as well."

"I was looking for something.  I think you were too, Carolyn," Jim said, thoughtfully.  "I didn't even know I was looking for a man until I met Morgan.  Now, I can't see the future without him in it."

"I wish you the best, Jim.  I really do.  For myself -- well, it's time for me to move on.  I've started that by moving to San Francisco.  Now, maybe, I can move on emotionally, as well as physically."  She hugged herself, feeling unaccountably forlorn.

She was surprised when a pair of strong arms encircled her.  Looking over, she saw Sandburg and Chandler standing side by side.  Sandburg looked slightly embarrassed but Chandler looked satisfied.  As if he had engineered something.  But of course, that was silly.  He couldn't have known how she still felt about Jim.  After all, he couldn't read minds.  Could he?

~Finis~ 


End file.
